Joe Rollins, wrote humorous book on Texas A&M

Lawyer, WW II Navy veteran and volunteer tutor, Joe Rollins was fluent in three languagesAttorney wrote humorous book on Texas A&M

LYNWOOD ABRAM, Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

Published 6:30 am, Saturday, November 15, 2008

Joe Rollins, a former Houston senior assistant city attorney who fought a lawsuit concerning delays in construction of what is now Bush Intercontinental Airport, has died. He was 90.

Lawyers for the plaintiff, R.F. Ball Construction Co. of San Antonio, alleged that the city made about 400 design changes for the terminals, delaying construction and incurring $8 million in losses to the company and its subcontractors.

The airport opened in June 1969, more than two years behind schedule. The plaintiffs said the changes increased construction costs from about $17 million to about $28 million.

The trial court ruled for the company, but the judge reduced damages from the requested $8 million to $5.1 million. The 14th Court of Appeals unanimously reversed that ruling, and the Texas Supreme Court concurred with the decision.

Successful defense

For his success in defending
Houston Police Department
officers in numerous suits, Rollins was awarded a plaque of appreciation from the department.

Born in Merit in Hunt County, Joseph Guy Rollins was the son of Joseph Guy Rollins and Ethel Stratton Rollins.

Rollins enlisted in the Navy a few months before the United States entered World War II. In 1943, he led a group of minesweepers that cleared German mines from the Caribbean entrance to the Panama Canal.

After the war, Rollins served in the Naval Reserve for 11 years, rising to the rank of lieutenant commander.

During that time, Rollins also practiced law in Denison, Sherman and Whitesboro in Grayson County before moving to Austin in 1957 to join the staff of the Texas Attorney General's Office. Assigned to the highway division, Rollins tried numerous eminent domain cases to acquire right-of-way for the interstate highway system in Texas.

In 1961, he moved to Houston to join the staff of the city attorney, where he became senior assistant attorney and chief of the litigation section.

He retired in 1979 and joined the Houston law firm Olson & Olson. After retiring from the firm in 1997, Rollins became a volunteer instructor in the English-as-a-second-language program of Memorial Assistance Ministries, which aims to improve literacy and communication skills. He also was a tutor in the bilingual education program at Spring Branch Elementary School.

Rollins became fluent in Spanish, French and German, and lived in the respective nations to learn their languages.

"He loved languages and history, especially the Civil War, World War I and II and European history," said his wife of 64 years, Sarah-Finch Maiden "Skippy" Rollins of Boulder. "He had a dry wit and loved to make his children laugh."

Author

He wrote a book,
Aggies,Y'All Caught That Dam Ol' Rat Yet?,
a humorous account of his experiences as a "fish" (freshman) at Texas A&M.

Rollins died Nov. 2 in Boulder, Colo., where he had lived since 2004.

In addition to his wife, survivors include a son, Guy Rollins of Wimberley; and two daughters, Sally Sodal of Boulder and Edna Gary Thomas of Doha, Qatar.

A memorial service was scheduled for Saturday at St. Paul's United Methodist Church, 4215 Grinnell Ave., in Boulder. Crist Funeral Home in Boulder was in charge of arrangements.

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